


Shelter Me From the Storm

by ColiOli



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, One-Shot, Prompt Fill, thunderstorm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 07:55:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11573718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColiOli/pseuds/ColiOli
Summary: For the tumblr prompt: I'd like to request a fic where the boys(pre relationship) have to share a bed because of reasons and the spark ignites





	Shelter Me From the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> edited: 7/22/17  
> Tumblr link at the end

Thick waves of rain pattered against the building, shaking the structure each time a thunder strike hurtled itself across the land. Trees swayed in violent motions, the leaves clutching helplessly as they became stripped from safe branches.  In the dark a thunder strike clapped, illuminating a lonely shed as two men crept in the dark, cautiously entering the small unit.

“Think we’ll be safe here tonight?” Paul asks the older of the two men as he slings from his shoulder a backpack and rummages through it, eventually fishing out dry socks. Daryl pulls a flashlight from his pocket and turns it on in time to catch a folded bundle of socks.

Daryl nods his head at the question. They’d somewhat expected a storm to pick up with the way the wind came in out of nowhere, but the storm’s timing was more abrupt than either men had anticipated. They’d been caught in the downpour and focused their search instead for a place to hide out rather than recover their vehicle left abandoned miles back. They’d eventually come across the remnants of a burned down home yet were fortunate that a little shed across the yard was doable to keep the rain out from above as well as conceal them from lurking dangers. Though able to contain them for the night without the above downpour, there were still flaws in the structure's design that allowed rain water to leak onto the broken concrete floor.

From the looks of it, someone had been using the storage shed as a shelter. The people, likely now dead or far off worse, had used a pile of couch cushions as a bed large enough for a couple people at least.

The younger of the men pauses as he pushes aside a pillow. His hand hovers above a dark object before lifting what appeared to be a stuffed wiener dog. Paul swallows the lump in his throat at the touch of the small stuffed animal, his gaze saddened by the item left alone in this small shelter without the small person who had likely held it during nights such as this own.

Daryl privately watches Paul as he puts the small flashlight in the clutch of his teeth and lights a candle before setting it on the damp ground. He glances around for a place to sit in their little shelter. Without much else place to rest besides an overturned bucket, he hesitantly decides on the very edge of a cushion next to the smaller man. Daryl takes the opportunity to remove his boots before peeling soaked socks from his feet. He works at pulling the fresh ones over his damp feet and welcomes the warmth the dry socks spread to his stiff feet.

It had truly been a long day. They’d been searching for supplies since the break of dawn, with the last three hours taking place scavenging on foot. If only they’d thought to return to their car sooner…

He falls back onto his side of the makeshift bed just as another jolt of thunder surrounds them. Lightning illuminates the night sky and leaks of illumination find its way into the cracks of the shed where the metal frame had been bolted together. A fierce wind rattles the shed while blankets of storm pelt against the tin walls.

It isn’t long before Jesus stops looking down at the object in his hand and shoves the stuffed dog into his bag. Daryl watches him from his side of the bed where he attempts to take up as little space as possible. It took him ages to even get comfortable to sleep next to someone from his own group, such a Rick, or even Carol. The thought of sleeping next to Paul somehow made his stomach want to turn in knots and his heart skip a beat faster.

“You gonna give that to a kid back home?” He asks, deciding to distract his thoughts of laying in bed so close to Paul's warm body.

“Kinda.” Jesus smirks. “Think Maggie would be open to have a wiener dog themed baby shower?”

Daryl huffs in reply and closes his eyes.

He feels the shifting of the cushions as Jesus lays down beside him. When Daryl opens his eyes again Jesus is laying on his back with his head propped up by an arm. The light from the fire bounces off his features. He looks younger in the daylight when the flicker of a candle isn’t pulling on his features creating shadows that weigh his face in ages.

The younger man had hardly changed since Daryl had come to know him when he’d stolen the truck from him and Rick. Yet still, he felt like Jesus had come to wrap around himself, forming a bond between them both unspeakable and unknowing at the forefront of Daryl’s mind. It had started when that prick had escaped the small cell in Alexandria, even more so forming a bond when Jesus was at the compound the day he’d bashed Fat Joey’s head in. That look of shock in Paul’s eyes followed by the shutter of his name had hardly escaped Daryl’s thoughts when he often looked back to that day.

Jesus had become one of them over time, and Daryl felt that same protectiveness over Jesus as he did the rest of the group. Lately more so. Jesus had done so much himself to protect the group. He’d been risking himself in situations, taking chances for the benefit of the group before himself. Eventually he might stumble, as they all did from time to time. But Daryl would make sure he were there to catch his fall.

He’d gently drifted off to sleep only to be sharply startled by a loud crack of lightening. He lifts his head up and through groggy vision perceives an exhausted Paul sound asleep despite the raging storm. Seeing Paul in a vulnerable state –out here, with the Saviors lurking about, in an unfamiliar shelter, yet, sleeping probably knowing he was safe, somehow pulls at Daryl’s chest in ways he can’t explain, nor does he try to think on. It takes a moment to comprehend that Paul has shifted closer, so close that despite the strength of the weather, he can hear Paul's breathing. He presses the thought of Paul away and physically scoots himself further from the man before sleep soon follows.

It must have been hours later, because Daryl is suddenly awoken. When he opens his eyes the candle has burnt out. The raining has faded into soft pecks against the metal shelter, the thunder in the distance unrolling itself in muffled rumbles.

But it’s the turned body facing him that pulls Daryl from his sleep. He can’t see Paul in the dark but he can feel him –feel the warmth of Paul’s breath ghosting across his forehead, the touch of the younger man’s body through his outstretched hand that is pressing against his chest. When his eyesight adjusts to the darkness he can make out that Paul is looking right back at him. He swears if it were any quieter Paul would hear the beating of his own heart against his chest.

Yet it’s the shattered breaths of Paul’s that tell him he’s not the only one feeling the distinct pulse of their bodies so close to one another. That or it’s the cold night air that has now awoken the younger man, encouraging him to move closer, his breath shaky from that alone, not in response to the way they're pressed against one another now.

And Paul knows Daryl is awake, looking at him too. For out of the darkness comes a whisper that can almost be mistaken for the wind as it was so quiet and soft. “Hey there.” Paul hesitates, his eyes focused on Daryl’s as he moves himself closer, never once looking away.  

Daryl does most that he can to push everyone around him away –close relationships, outsiders, people in general. He could recall the moment when he told Abraham that he’d never settle with another person, and yet, he couldn’t deny the way he’d been secretly keeping his eye on Paul the last few weeks since the war at Alexandria. It was like the both of them had felt something but Daryl had resisted the pull between them.

Until now. Because fuck if he can’t tell those virescent eyes that he won’t help him get warm. He’d known for a while now that fact alone would draw him closer to wanting to be around the younger man. And when Paul is brushed up against him, Daryl doesn’t pull away.

Paul is the one to make the first move, the move that’ll create a domino effect that’ll shape the rest of their time together. He hovers his lips just scarcely above Daryl’s own. When Daryl doesn’t pull away he leans in, allowing their mouths to brush against another. His heart is rapidly beating in his own chest, and when Paul pulls back his own breath is trembling. He locks his eyes with Daryl’s closed ones, eventually having the courage to lean back in again and entice Daryl with an open mouthed kiss.

Night seems to dwindle on, both nearing in an out of consciousness. It was Jesus who had pulled back after they’d kissed for several minutes, laying his head softly across Daryl’s open chest. Whether the other one sleep, neither knows. But Daryl keeps the private promise he’d made to himself that he’d seek to keep the younger man safe. He carefuly shifts Paul onto his side so that all night his upper arm is wrapped around the smaller frame, pulling him protectively against his chest as they lay nose to nose.

When dawn breaks it’s Paul who wakes first, pulling himself from the bed and kneeling over Daryl. They rise without little more than five words between them, yet it’d be undeniable that their gazes hold for seconds longer than they had the day prior.

And there’s without a doubt a shorter distance between them on their way back to the car, Daryl almost constantly looking over Paul’s shoulder to make sure no danger lay ahead in between him and the younger man.

War was about to break out, and he’d be damned if he would let anything happen to him.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Jeesusandreedusprompts.tumblr.com


End file.
